Over 1 Million Reasons to be Thankful

Wednesday I picked up at Panera Bread, and for the first time was asked to sign for what we delivered.   We signed for $527 of retail food.    It was a medium sized pickup, at a location that produces neither the smallest or largest quantities of food delivered by Food Rescue. 

Using that as a conservative measurement for our Indianapolis, Norfolk, Ft. Worth, Muncie, and Greenwood locations, considering the 23 specific days weekly we have been assigned weekly, Food Rescue is on pace to deliver $632,400 worth of retail food  over the next 12 months to those in need from our Panera locations.

Throw in the 11 specific days weekly from Paradise Cafe and Big Apple Bagels, and add another $72,000 retail to that total for a total of $704,400

Food Rescue has been awarded 2 additional days in Ft. Worth, and 10 days in Charlotte from 3 different storesas pending some key people confirming they can fill the available spots, which would represent another $341,496 in retail food.

With our confirmed $704,400 of scheduled annual deliveries, and our $341,496 pending deliveries, Food Rescue over the next 12 months will be responsible for $1,045,496 in retail food being delivered to people in need in our country that was formerly thrown away before Food Rescue existed.

With humility and a thankful heart, I would like to thank all of you for sacrificing your time and energy this past 6 months.  What a wild ride it has been.  In a Kingdom closer than we can imagine, the man who fed 5,000 with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish is saying,  “Well done”.

On Thursday, Food Rescue was blessed with an unimaginable gift from Exact Target of $16,000 worth of retail software that will help us automate our communications, meaning among other things that an email will automatically be sent to you the day before your Food Rescue.   Jon Duch, account manager for Exact Target and fellow “food rescuer” asked for the involvement of Exact Target CEO Scott Dorsey, and he not only offered the software, but has offered to become involved in our project personally.  On behalf of everyone at Food Rescue, we would like to thank Scott and Jon, and we look forward to seeing the positive impact it will have in our communications and our community and country.

 

 

 

Vision

In Proverbs it says, Without a vision, the people perish.

Check out this link my friend Wendy Hatch, our logo designer, sent to me.

www.cityharvest.org

The interesting part of the link, among many interesting things, is how they started.  Does it sound familiar?  Thank you everyone, from Ft. Worth to Norfolk, to right here in Indianapolis for supporting a vision in the way you all do.

Hunger in the USA Stats

There is a great need in our own country.   We can and are making difference, one pick up at a time.   Jesus said to Peter 3 times, “Do you love me?”  3 times Peter intensely answered, “Yes Lord”  Jesus said, “If you love me, feed me lambs”.   The mandate and the resources are there, but as these statistics show, the “lambs” are there as well. 

Poverty 1

• In 2006, nearly 37 million people (12.3%) were in poverty.
• In 2006, 7.6 (9.8%) million families were in poverty.
• In 2006, 20.2 million (10.8%) of people aged 18-64 were in poverty.
• In 2006, 12.8 million (17.4%) children under the age of 18 were in poverty.
• In 2006, 3.4 million (9.4%) seniors 65 and older were in poverty.
        

Food Insecurity (Low Food Security and Very Low Security) and Food Insecurity With Hunger (Very Low Security) 2

• In 2006, 35.5 million Americans lived in food insecure households, 22.8 million adults and 12.6 million children.

• In 2006, 10.9% of households (12.6 million households) were food insecure, a statistically insignificant decrease from 11% (12.6 million households) in 2005.

• In 2006, 4% of households (4.6 million households) experienced very low food security, a small increase from 3.9% in  2005.

• In 2006, households with children reported food insecurity at almost double the rate for those without children, 15.6% compared to 8.5%.

• In 2006, households that were more likely to experience food insecurity were households with children, households with children headed by single women (30.4%) or men (17%), households with incomes below the poverty line (36.3%), Black households (21.8%) and Hispanic households (19.5%).

• In 2006, 5.9% of households with seniors ( 1.59 million households) were food insecure (low food security and very low food security), a statistically insignificant decrease from 6% ( 1.6 million households) in 2005. 

Use of Emergency Food Assistance and Federal Food Assistance Programs

• In 2006, 3.3% of all U.S. households (3.8 million households) accessed emergency food from a food pantry one or more times, or 21% of all food-insecure households. 3

• In 2006, food insecure (low food security or very low food security) households were 19 times more likely than food-secure households to have obtained food from a food pantry, an increase in likelihood from 17 times in 2005.4

• In 2006, food insecure (low food security or very low food security) households were 15 times more likely than food-secure households to have eaten a meal at an emergency kitchen, an decrease in likelihood from 19 times in 2005 . 5

• In 2006, 55.5% of food-insecure households participated in at least one of the three major Federal food assistance programs – Food Stamp Program, The National School Lunch Program, and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, remaining unchanged from 55.6% in 2005. 6

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1 U.S. Census Bureau. Carmen  DeNavas-Walt, B. Proctor, C. Lee.  Income, Poverty, and Heath Insurance Coverage in the United States:  2006.
2 USDA. Mark Nord, M. Andrews, S. Carlson.  Household Food Security in the United States, 2006.
3 USDA. Mark Nord, M. Andrews, S. Carlson. Household Food Security in the United States, 2006.
4 USDA. Mark Nord, M. Andrews, S. Carlson. Household Food Security in the United States, 2006.
5 USDA. Mark Nord, M. Andrews, S. Carlson. Household Food Security in the United States, 2006.
6 USDA. Mark Nord, M. Andrews, S. Carlson. Household Food Security in the United States, 2006.
7 Rhoda Cohen, M. Kim, J. Ohls. Hunger In America 2006. America’s Second Harvest.
8 Rhoda Cohen, M. Kim, J. Ohls. Hunger In America 2006. America’s Second Harvest.
9 Rhoda Cohen, M. Kim, J. Ohls. Hunger In America 2006. America’s Second Harvest.
10 USDA. Mark Nord, M. Andrews, S. Carlson. Household Food Security in the United States, 2006.

The Email From Fort Worth Texas

Read the previous blog post first to get the order of what happened here.  Theres probably a way to change the order, but I’m not smart enough.

“Pam B.” wrote:

I was wondering if the day-old bread from this location is thrown away? I would like to pick it up and deliver to the local homeless shelter, if it is! I could pick up 1 or 2 nights per week and deliver to the shelter.

 

University Drive
about 5.01 miles away
1700 South University Drive
Fort Worth, TX 76107
(817) 870-1959 | phone
(817) 870-1876 | fax

 

 

Pam

 

I then asked how Pam found out about Food Rescue and she responded:

Thanks so much for your quick reply! I actually was searching for info on Panera online, because I’d heard they frequently donated their unsold bread to charities or anyone willing to pick it up and deliver it somewhere that could use it. I was googling and a website came up all about how to go about doing this, and your name and contact info was listed. I can’t remember the website, I would have to look it up. I thought it would be great if I could deliver the bread to our local shelter a couple of times a week. I work for a church and we have a food ministry 2 days a week, we might be able to use it there too! Most of what we give out is nonperishables though so I would have to find out for sure. But, anything I can do to help. It is really sad to me to see sooooooooo much good, usable food being thrown away by large corporations like restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores, when so many people go hungry every day. It is insanity. I am also wondering if perhaps Meals on Wheels might even be interested in participating if there are more available days.
 
If you would like to forward my email, please go ahead. I look forward to hearing back from you and letting me know what you hear from Panera!
 
Pam

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North Carolina, Virginia, Indiana, and Texas?

If everyone could pray for the future of Food Rescue we would greatly appreciate it.  After welcoming Zion Grace UMC from Norfolk last week into the Food Rescue family, our phone rang and it was a member of Forest Hill church in Ballantyne North Carolina interested in starting a Food Rescue chapter.   He used to live in Muncie Indiana of all places where I grew up.  Unbelievable.  Anyway, we emailed several churches in those areas about the need, so those were a blessing, but not completely shocking.

However, this evening we received an email from an unknown unsolicited person in Fort Worth Texas wanting to pick up 2 days per week at a Panera near her.  We’ve never sent anything to anyone in Texas.  It is a privelege to serve with all of you and frankly just watch what our God can do.  Lots of people doing a little.  What a concept.   What’s next?

 

Resources

If this is your first visit to the Food Rescue blog, please visit March archives for a brief history.  If you visit regularly, please check out the last 3 posts.

I heard a message last night regarding the great needs that there are all around the world.  These problems are going to require resources to solve them, but the greatest “earthly” resources we have are one another.  We can either (A) do nothing and tell nobody, or (B) do something and keep it to ourselves, or (C) do something and spread the word to others.  I think (B) (failure to spread the word), can be as toxic to progress as failure to act.

The thought that we don’t have the resources to fix problems individually keeps many people from engaging.   As our project expands, we have the ability to demonstrate what “doing” something small and spreading the word to others can accomplish wtih no apparent resources other than ourselves and our actions.  As we approach 200 volunteers, the impact will grow in direct proportion to the number of volunteers moving past once a month serving by using the most powerful resource they have been given, which is “telling the story”.   In 2008, there has never been a time in history where it is easier to tell a story to a large or small audience in a short amount of time.  Will we continue to do it?  Will we be satisfied?  Will hunger in our cities around our country be solved without communication?  Never.

 

 

 

Welcome Zion Grace UNMC In Norfolk, Virginia

Pastor Seonyoung Kim and Zion-Grace United Methodist Church joined our Food Rescue family today, serving 20 time slots at a Norfolk Virginia Panera Bread where their end of the day food was being thrown out 5 of the 7 days each week until now.  If you have a moment, if you would take the time to welcome them by clicking “comment” on this blog post I would appreciate it, adding any encouragement you might be led to offer as they begin down this road.  

I shared with Pastor Kim that we have a big kite and a gale force wind and all we are doing is hanging on for dear life to see where He takes us.  To the over 150 volunteers that made this possible, thanks for hanging on with me, and I look forward to seeing what happens next!